The Great Hot Dog Cook-Off Much Belated Recap

I had a great time volunteering for the 4th Annual Great Hot Dog Cook-Off. I don't want to gush too much here, but the lovely ladies who organized and helped out were just fabulous, generous and fun. At the end of the day, we raised $4,000 for City Harvest and sent many people home full of hot dogs and plenty tipsy.

I was the appointed chef wrangler and grill mistress. This meant that I had to get everything set up for the chefs, get them onto and off of the grills and to their serving stations. I found myself running inside for beers, wiping up all sorts of messy toppings and flinging handfuls of (hardwood) charcoal onto the six-foot long grills.

I was very impressed with the creative dishes our valiant chefs prepared. There were major departures from the traditional hot dog, like a homemade ravioli stuffed with hot dogs, and a "veggie" dog that was a grilled banana topped with marshmallow fluff, chocolate chips and peanut butter. One contestant made her own hot dogs, others added bacon, salsa, jam, peppers and pickled cabbage. Unfortunately, I was too busy during the day to try very many of the contestant's dogs or get pictures of them all. Luckily for me, there were several photogs and bloggers running around so I can refer you to a few sites. I did manage to snap a few pics and for a full list of winners be sure to visit the official web site.

Recaps & photos here:
NYT Fort Greene Blog
Time Out New York

Not Eating Out in NY
Sharing Food
Dave's Kitchen
Forking Tasty

A few snaps I managed: